The Hartung-Bergman Foundation, where painters Hans Hartung and Anna-Eva Bergman lived and worked, opens to the public

We are on the heights of Antibes. It is in the heart of an 18th century olive grove century that Hans Hartung and Anna Eva Bergman built their house-studio, where they lived and worked from 1973 until their death in the late 80s.

“We are in the middle of nature which is magnificent, the trees are sublime. There are tall pines, there are all these olive trees and then at the same time this very pure, very white, very mineral architecture. This articulation between the two are really very moving”, exclaims Thomas Schlesser who heads the Hartung-Bergman Foundation

The villa in which the artist couple lived, inspired by the elementarist architecture of the 1930s, is not accessible to the public. Visitors can, however, glimpse the azure blue pool and patio area.

On the other hand, the workshops installed below have been fitted out to receive the public. Two exhibition spaces have been created around it. We discover in particular the fascinating and still too little known work of Anna Eva Bergman.

“Bergman first worked according to the technique of the golden ratio, that is to say, she sought the best possible proportion in her compositions. And then, she posed sheets of metal which allow the light to be reflected. Her works always have a very solar, very luminous aspect, whether it is gold or silver on the surface of the painting”, says Thomas Schlesser

Nature and the horizon are at the heart of Anna-Eva Bergman’s painting, which invites meditation. The work of Hans Hartung, a great figure in abstraction, who was close to Pierre Soulages, is presented in a separate space. We discover some sixty years of creation.

His workshop is also open to visitors and nothing has changed since his disappearance in 1989. “At the end of his life, Hartung painted with a method which was that of projection with garden sulphates. As a result, all the walls are filled with color spots, drips and it almost gives the appearance of a huge work of art” says Thomas Schlesser

Living memory of these years of creation, the couple’s former cook, Marcelle, still works at the foundation. She remembers that the artists worried about the future of their house-studio. “It was the will of the two artists that it be open to the public, that everyone visits and in fact it came true.” says Marcella.

More than 30 years after their death, Hans Hartung and Anna-Eva Bergman’s wish has been granted.